electric/hybrid

Global EV market to see 11 percent growth through 2022

A new report by BCC Research has found that the global electric vehicle (EV) market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent between 2017 and 2022.

Currently, the global EV market is worth more than $75.7 billion, but by 2022 it could be worth almost $128 billion, according to the BCC Research report Electric Vehicles and Fuel Cell Vehicles: Global Markets to 2022. The market now includes passenger cars, scooters, low velocity vehicles, buses, niche vehicles and commercial and industrial vehicles, with passenger vehicles including hybrid electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles. The bulk of the growth will be in passenger vehicles, with the passenger EV market anticipated to be worth $63.2 billion by 2022. However, in terms of units, the EV market will be dominated by battery-powered scooters and bikes - more than 55 million sold in 2017 and 79 million could be sold annually by 2022.

The report also identifies a number of exotic EV power sources, which include capacitive energy storage, flywheel energy storage, hydro-hybrid and water fuel cells. Of these, capacitive energy storage and flywheel energy storage could begin to have a small impact on the EV market by 2022.

Niche EVs include military applications, where pure EV and hybrids have been deployed and battery-powered fighting vehicles have been tested. Among the benefits are the fact that certain fuels do not need to be transported across war zones, operations are quiet and there are no heat signatures.

A substantial benefit of the wider use of EVs, HEVs, PHEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) is the direct and immediate reduction of air pollution through the elimination of vehicle exhaust.

“Both HEVs and PHEVs can significantly reduce the generation of toxic pollutants, particulates, ozone, and, most notably, greenhouse gases” said report author and BCC Research analyst Donald Saxman. “Depending on how quickly they are adopted and where and when they are recharged, a certain amount of air pollution will be transferred from numerous small point sources (automobiles) to fewer larger point sources (power plants that burn fossil fuel). The potential for pollution abatement and a consequent reduction in the production of greenhouse gases is one of the most important forces driving the EV industry.”